Pothole Palooza

Pothole FAQs

How Many Potholes Were Addressed as Part of Pothole Palooza, and How Was This Number Calculated?

During the week of Pothole Palooza, crews were out at 10 locations around the city where they repaired and/or prevented an estimated 5,369 potholes from forming.

How Was the Estimated Number of Potholes Repaired/Prevented Calculated:

A typical permanent pothole repair is 4 feet wide x 4 feet long or 16 Square Feet.

For Pothole Palooza, crews repaired 9,545 SY of pavement combined at all 10 locations. To calculate potholes, you must first convert the number of square yards completed to square feet completed to the number of potholes repaired/prevented.

The formula is 9,545 SY x 9 SF/1 SY x 1 SF/16 SF = “repaired and/or prevented 5,369 potholes from forming”

SY = Square Yards
SF = Square Feet

How Were Locations Selected?

Street Operations has assessed arterial routes throughout the city using pavement management data, focusing on projects in each of the 5 Council Districts, assessing roadway conditions, and weighing that with the City’s Equity Index.

What is an Arterial Road?

Arterials are larger roadways that deliver traffic between collector roads and freeways. These roadways carry most of the city’s heavy traffic and transit systems. The best way to identify them is that there is center yellow or white lane striping.

What About Other Arterial Roads That Need Maintenance?

The City understands and acknowledges the numerous requests for street maintenance on certain arterials and streets in Tacoma. Arterial roads need extensive repair, more than current resources allow.

Street Operations staff knows more needs to be done but needs to turn its focus to its planned summer projects. Those projects include Streets Initiative residential overlays, surface treatments, and preventative maintenance on approximately 550 blocks throughout the city.

Due to the short duration of this event combined with limited resources such as staffing, funds, equipment, and logistical challenges, Street Operations can only focus on a certain number of locations during the weeklong duration of this event.

Street Operations will continue to address additional maintenance needs throughout the rest of the year as part of its normal business practice.

These locations were prioritized based on the frequency of past reports and requests, the City’s Equity Index, and providing service in each of the 5 council districts.

Will These Roads Be Closed While Work is Happening?

Road closures and detours will be in place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Roadways will be reopened once scheduled work is completed.

Each location is different and will have its own unique traffic management needs.

Traffic control, including lane closures and detours, will be set up to safely move vehicles and pedestrians through or around the work zones. In some cases, traffic may be diverted or temporarily halted to ensure the safety of both workers and the traveling public.

Traffic cones, signs, and flaggers may be present to guide vehicles safely around the work area. When roadways need to be closed, detours will be used to direct the traveling public. Notice boards will be placed at each location at least a week before the start of the work.

What Will the Community See During Pothole Palooza?

Overall, the public will witness a coordinated effort by City crews to repair defective pavement and improve the condition of the roadways.

Work Crew: Street Operations Staff will be mobilizing for these projects each day, setting up traffic control, preparing the site, removing the asphalt, and paving the same day. It is referred to as “grind and pave.”

Construction Vehicles: Crews will be using standard construction equipment geared towards asphalt paving, such as dump trucks, self-loading milling machines, skid steer loaders, asphalt paving machines, and rollers.

Traffic Control: In some cases, traffic may be diverted or temporarily halted to ensure the safety of both workers and the traveling public. Traffic cones, signs, and flaggers may be present to guide vehicles safely around the work area. When roadways need to be closed, detours will be used to direct the traveling public.

Materials: Crews will either remove and dispose of the asphalt grindings at a local disposal site or if they are acceptable, they may be used to produce future asphalt for future projects.  Crews will also purchase asphalt mix from a local vendor. All asphalt mixes will meet the City of Tacoma and State of Washington material requirements.

Process: Crews will remove the distressed asphalt using their self-loading milling machine and place and compact new asphalt. If lane striping is removed, crews will place temporary striping, and then once the asphalt cools, our striping crew will return to install the permanent lane striping.

Safety Measures: The crew will take safety precautions to minimize risks during the repair process. This will include public notice of the coming project, wearing personal protective equipment to be visible to the traveling public, traffic control, and following established safety protocols.